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My computer is an Asus G51VX, Vista 64 bit, any other tech specs just ask me.

I was browsing the web on Sunday afternoon at my in-laws (out in the country, unlocked wi-fi) when Google Chrome opened up some extra tabs I hadnt asked for. Then I realized the links I'd ask for were being redirected away to some other place entirely. I remember one of the domains seemingly doing the redirecting was "expandsearchanswers.com". I noticed I could hit back once or twice and I would be at the link I wanted, but it still freaked me out a bit.

I tried running Malware Bytes but it wouldnt update itself, it gave me an error saying it couldnt contact the update server. I ran the program anyway with the outdated definitions (60 days old it said) and it found nothing. Both a fast scan (2-3 mins) and a regular scan (30 mins) found no problems. I deinstalled chrome and wiped the browsing history (I figured why not since I have my account synced with another computer at work... let me know if it might be infected, though no problems yet), and switched to Mozilla with nothing imported. ... The links were STILL getting hijacked.

I then ran AVG full scan and another round of MBAM and nothing was found. I didnt touch my laptop much on Monday. On Tuesday night I found bleepingcomputer.com forums, saw what great and THOROUGH work was being done here, basically tried to get setup to do this post, reading up on procedures and downloading "dds.scr". At the end of the evening though, I noticed that the links were no longer being redirected. I tried a whole bunch of different search terms and ideas but there simply was no more redirecting going on. I didnt run combofix or anything. I did get MBAM to update properly, true, but it didnt find anything even when it was up to date. So weird.

I would really appreciate it if someone could help me make sure my laptop is clean. Thank you for considering this!

My name is Gringo and I'll be glad to help you with your computer problems.

Somethings to remember while we are working together.

Do not run any other tool untill instructed to do so!

please Do not Attach logs or put in code boxes.

Tell me about any problems that have occurred during the fix.

Tell me of any other symptoms you may be having as these can help also.

Do not run anything while running a fix.

Do not run any other tool untill instructed to do so!

Click on the Watch Topic Button and select Immediate Notification and click on proceed, this will help you to get notified faster when I have replied and make the cleaning process faster.

Please print out or make a copy in notpad of any instructions given, as sometimes it is necessary to go offline and you will lose access to them.

Run Combofix:

You may be asked to install or update the Recovery Console(Win XP Only) if this happens please allow it to do so (you will need to be connected to the internet for this)

Before you run Combofix I will need you to turn off any security software you have running, If you do not know how to do this you can find out >here< or >here<

Combofix may need to reboot your computer more than once to do its job this is normal.

You can download Combofix from one of these links.Link 1Link 2Link 31. Close any open browsers or any other programs that are open.2. Close/disable all anti virus and anti malware programs so they do not interfere with the running of ComboFix.

Double click on combofix.exe & follow the prompts. When finished, it will produce a report for you.

Note 1: Do not mouseclick combofix's window while it's running. That may cause it to stall

Note 2: If you recieve an error "Illegal operation attempted on a registery key that has been marked for deletion." Please restart the computer

"information and logs"

In your next post I need the following

Log from Combofix

let me know of any problems you may have had

How is the computer doing now?

Gringo

I Close My Topics If You Have Not Replied In 5 Days If You Will Be Longer Please Let Me Know

If I Have Not Replied To One Of My Topics In 48 Hrs Please Bump The Topic

My help is free, however, if you wish to make a small donation to show your appreciation or to help me continue the fight against Malware, then click here --><-- Don't worry every little bit helps.

I did not have any problems running combofix, and the links are still working fine. (When they were being redirected, it was through Google; I hadnt tried Yahoo or Bing. When it worked fine again it was for Google, and Bing, etc.) All search engines seem to work fine.

Computer is seemingly doing fine right now.

*EDIT* I just noticed a shortcut to Internet Explorer was added to my desktop shortcuts. It's called "The Internet", which imho is a little pretentious and misleading. Did Combofix add that? Weird.
Another thing to add is that I'm currently using this laptop to post on this forum, browse a wee bit, edit a Word document for homework, etc; is that ok?

*EDIT* I just noticed a shortcut to Internet Explorer was added to my desktop shortcuts. It's called "The Internet", which imho is a little pretentious and misleading. Did Combofix add that? Weird.Another thing to add is that I'm currently using this laptop to post on this forum, browse a wee bit, edit a Word document for homework, etc; is that ok?

Note:Save your work. TFC will automatically close any open programs, let it run uninterrupted. It shouldn't take longer take a couple of minutes, and may only take a few seconds. Only if needed will you be prompted to reboot.

: Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware :

I would like you to rerun MBAM

Double-click mbam icon

go to the update tab at the top

click on check for updates

If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.

Once the program has loaded, select Perform quick scan, then click Scan.

When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.

Be sure that everything is Checked (ticked) except items in the C:\System Volume Information folder and click on Remove Selected.

When completed, a log will open in Notepad. please copy and paste the log into your next reply

If you accidently close it, the log file is saved here and will be named like this:

Note: If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you will be presented with 1 of 2 prompts. Click OK to either and let MBAM proceed with the disinfection process. If asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately. Failure to reboot will prevent MBAM from removing all the malware.

Double-click on the HijackThis Installer icon on your desktop. (Vista and Win 7 right click and run as admin)

By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis .

Click on Install.

It will create a HijackThis icon on the desktop.

Once installed it will launch Hijackthis.

Click on the Do a system scan and save a logfile button. It will scan and the log should open in notepad.

Click on Edit > Select All then click on Edit > Copy to copy the entire contents of the log.

Come back here to this thread and Paste the log in your next reply.

DO NOT use the AnalyseThis button its findings are dangerous if misinterpreted.

DO NOT have Hijackthis fix anything yet. Most of what it finds will be harmless or even required.

If you have problems running Hijackthis.

sometimes we have to run it like this To run HijackThis as an administrator,rightclick HijackThis.exe (located: C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe)and select to run as administrator

"information and logs"

In your next post I need the following

Log From MBAM

report from Hijackthis

let me know of any problems you may have had

How is the computer doing now?

Gringo

I Close My Topics If You Have Not Replied In 5 Days If You Will Be Longer Please Let Me Know

If I Have Not Replied To One Of My Topics In 48 Hrs Please Bump The Topic

My help is free, however, if you wish to make a small donation to show your appreciation or to help me continue the fight against Malware, then click here --><-- Don't worry every little bit helps.

These logs are looking very good, we are almost done!!! Just one more scan to go.

:Remove unneeded startup entries:

This part of the fix is purely optional These are programs that start up when you turn on your computer but don't need to be, any of these programs you can click on their icons (or start from the control panel) and start the program when you need it. By stopping these programs you will boot up faster and your computer will work faster.

NOTE**You can research each of those lines >here< and see if you want to keep them or not
just copy the name between the brakets and paste into the search space
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IntelliPoint]

If you have any problems running Hijackthis.

sometimes we have to run it like this To run HijackThis as an administrator,rightclick HijackThis.exe (located: C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe)and select to run as administrator

Eset Online Scanner

**Note** You will need to use Internet explorer for this scan - Vista and win 7 right click on IE shortcut and run as admin

Save the Notepad file on your desktop...as delfile.bat... save type as "All Files"
It should look like this: <--XP<--vista

Double click on delfile.bat to execute it.
A black CMD window will flash, then disappear...this is normal.

The files and folders, if found...will have been deleted and the "delfile.bat" file will also be deleted.

The rest of the Online scan is only reporting backups created during the course of this fix C:\Qoobox\Quarantine\, and/or items located in System Restore's cache C:\System Volume Information\, Whatever is in these folders can't harm you unless you choose to perform a manual restore. the following steps will remove these backups.

Very well done!! This is my general post for when your logs show no more signs of malware - Please let me know if you still are having problems with your computer and what these problems are.

The following procedure will implement some cleanup procedures. It will also reset your System Restore by flushing out previous restore points and create a new restore point. It will also remove all the backups our tools may have made.

Any programs and logs that are left over you can just be deleted from the desktop. TFC is a free temp file cleaner that is very easy to use, I would keep this and use before you do any scans or when you want to free up some space.

:DeFogger:

To re-enable your Emulation drivers, double click DeFogger to run the tool.

It is also possible for other programs on your computer to have security vulnerability that can allow malware to infect you. Therefore, it is also a good idea to check for the latest versions of commonly installed applications that are regularly patched to fix vulnerabilities. You can check these by visiting Secunia Software Inspector

:Turn On Automatic Updates:

Turn On Automatic Updates1. Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then press ENTER. 2. Click the Automatic Updates tab, and then click to select one of the following options. We recommend that you select the Automatic (recommended) Automatically download recommended updates for my computer and install them

If you click this setting, click to select the day and time for scheduled updates to occur. You can schedule Automatic Updates for any time of day. Remember, your computer must be on at the scheduled time for updates to be installed. After you set this option, Windows recognizes when you are online and uses your Internet connection to find updates on the Windows Update Web site or on the Microsoft Update Web site that apply to your computer. Updates are downloaded automatically in the background, and you are not notified or interrupted during this process. An icon appears in the notification area of your taskbar when the updates are being downloaded. You can point to the icon to view the download status. To pause or to resume the download, right-click the icon, and then click Pause or Resume. When the download is completed, another message appears in the notification area so that you can review the updates that are scheduled for installation. If you choose not to install at that time, Windows starts the installation on your set schedule.

or visit http://www.windowsupdate.com regularly. This will ensure your computer has always the latest security updates available installed on your computer. If there are new updates to install, install them immediately, reboot your computer, and revisit the site until there are no more critical updates.

:antispyware programs:

I would reccomend the download and installation of some or all of the following programs (all free), and the updating of them regularly:

WinPatrol As a robust security monitor, WinPatrol will alert you to hijackings, malware attacks and critical changes made to your computer without your permission. WinPatrol takes snapshot of your critical system resources and alerts you to any changes that may occur without your knowledge.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is a new and powerful anti-malware tool. It is
totally free but for real-time protection you will have to pay a small one-time fee. We used this to help clean your computer and recomend keeping it and using often.

Thank you so, so much! Everything is working really well, no issues whatsoever. I'll know where to go next time I have a problem: this is the most useful forum I've ever seen. Its a very efficient setup to have individualized service when the problems can be so complicated and the users so dense (hi!).

It appears that this issue is resolved, therefore I am closing the topic. If that is not the case and you need or wish to continue with this topic, please send me or any Moderator a Personal Message (PM) that you would like this topic re-opened.

I Close My Topics If You Have Not Replied In 5 Days If You Will Be Longer Please Let Me Know

If I Have Not Replied To One Of My Topics In 48 Hrs Please Bump The Topic

My help is free, however, if you wish to make a small donation to show your appreciation or to help me continue the fight against Malware, then click here --><-- Don't worry every little bit helps.